Have Alabama and UGA Swapped Places From Five Or So Years Ago?

[selmaborntidefan]

We dethroned ourselves with mistakes we made. They look like the same team they have always been under Kirby before 2021. We are the ones who changed, not them. The good news is Saban has seemed to recognize this and is taken action to fix it.

This is nonsense.

Using this line of reasoning, Georgia could say, "We gave Alabama that 2017 title with mistakes, and we lost the 2018 SECCG with mistakes" yadda yadda. I'm also not quite sure what you mean by what they looked like under Kirby "before 2021." From 2017-2021, they were 44-9, with an SEC title, a national title, and last-minute losses in an SEC and national title game (overtime in that one). Georgia was two plays from a record of 46-7 with TWO national titles and two SEC titles.

And anyone who says "you're talking about two plays" better start looking up the definition of "irony."

 

[selmaborntidefan]

You can say dominant but they very well could have lost to Mizzou and they should have lost to OSU last year. If OSU makes that FG as time expired this would not be a thread.

And if UGA recovers Tua's fumble in overtime......

 

[selmaborntidefan]

All due respect but they would not have the success they have seen if there were in the Western Division.

This excuse is absolutely ludicrous.

Name one team they wouldn't have beaten in the West the last two years?

In 2021, the three best teams in the West were Alabama, Ole Miss, and Arkansas. They went 1-1 against us and absolutely jackhammered Arkansas (37-0). In 2022, the played LSU and smashed them, and they played Miss St on the road. Again - they played 2 of the 3 best teams in the SEC plus Auburn, who hired Harsin.

What's the claim? "Well, if they woulda played us in the SECCG, they'd have lost." Two points in response: 1) it's not UGA's fault we messed the bed; 2) even if they had lost, they'd have been in the playoffs.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

They get the benefit of being in the SEC Least. Put them in the west, none of this ever happens.

Again, this is the same kind of excuse as, "Well, those Southern teams are afraid to play up north in December."

Who - in the last two years- would UGA not have beaten in the West????

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I think there's a difference though to the "If Colt hadn't got hurt" Texas claim and Bama's "If Metchie/Williams hadn't got hurt" claim against Georgia .

No, there really isn't.

Tua got hurt in the 2018 SECCG against UGA, too, and we won the game.

We played Texas only once that season so there's a lot of uncertainty as to what would have happened with Colt in there. Maybe it would have mattered but maybe not. With Georgia in 2021 we already saw what happened in the SECCG with Metchie and Williams in there when we stomped them so no Gerogia fan can seriously claim they would have beaten us anyway in the NCG if we had those guys.

The problem with the Colt McCoy argument is that their DEFENSE let both Ingram and Richardson rush for over 100 yards and Malcolm Williams dropped a ball right in his hands. McCoy playing doesn't change that.

Saban won an SECCG in 2001 with his starting QB injured.
He did it again in 2018 when Tua got hurt.

Every team has injuries. Trey Sermon got hurt for Ohio St on the first drive in 2020. Bo Scarborough's injury in 2016 we COULD say cost us - but what really cost us was Jalen not developing as a passer or (take your pick) running through OCs like crap through a goose.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Over the last 2 years they have been the best team in college football. Due to 7 injuries (4 for Bama in 21 and 3 for Ohio State in 2022) Let's not pretend that Georgia has been this dominant team over the last 2 years.

In 2021, they went 8-0 in the SEC (prior to the title game) with average MOV of 31 points and beat two EOY ranked teams (18 Kentucky and 21 Arky), shut out two of those (plus another), and gave up more than 13 points once. Then they won the national championship by 15 points.

In 2022, they went 8-0 in the SEC with an average MOV of 25.5 points and beat five EOY ranked teams (including LSU in the SECCG by 20 and Oregon by 46). And then won the most one-sided national title game in history by 58 points.

If that's not dominant, I don't know what is.

Alabama fans - "Hey, our 2011 defense was DOMINANT!!"
Yeah, and it lost more games than 2022 UGA did, too.

They supposedly had the best defense in the history of college football 2 years ago. How did they do against a healthy Bama in the SEC championship? Bama won that game 41 - 24 and had 536 of total yards on offense. If not for no Metchie, Williams getting hurt early in the 2nd quarter of that game and our 2 starting corners out for the game, Bama wins the national championship. Period.

Yeah, I know, it's not like Alabama ever won a national championship by getting a rematch.....as I recall, it turned out exactly the same as the first game...

Fast forward to last year. Again, they luck out with injuries to the other teams best players. Jaxon Smith-Njigba (20th pick of the NFL draft and would have been way higher if played last year) did not suit up. Ohio States starting running back not available. Marvin Harrison, Jr. was destroying Georgia. 106 yards in 3 quarters. Then, he gets hurt on a non-call targeting penalty with 1 minute to go in the 3rd quarter. Harrison doesn't get hurt and Ohio State easily wins. They have Smith-Njigba, Trayvon Henderson and Harrison Jr. for the whole game and they boat race Georgia.

Yeah, I know, and SEC teams are afraid to play up north in December......

So, does Georgia have 2 titles over the last 2 years. Yes. And is it their fault that other teams best players have been hurt. No. But, have they taken over college football and are they absolutely better than Bama. Hard NO.

I won't go as far as your last full sentence, no.

But let's not diminish this with a pile of excuses.

Believe it or not, good teams lose.

Do you REALLY believe:
- 2008 Ole Miss was better than Tim Tebow's Florida?
- 2011 Iowa State was better than Okie State?
- 2012 aTm was better than Alabama?
- 2013 Auburn was better than Alabama?
- 2016 Penn State was better than Ohio State?

We could go on and on with this, but even the best teams get beat from time to time.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Now having dispensed with the pile of ridiculous excuses.....

They're (thisclose). In fact, if we had played them AND LOST last year, I'd be willing to say "yes." But here's the thing and the "but Clemson" folks have it correctly. Less than five years ago, Dabo Swinney was the Savior of college football. He was going to turn us into pork sausage, eat us, and push us through his bowels and change the face of college football forever. Look now and his program is only slightly better than Hiroshima when the mushroom cloud was still rising. Almost ANY program can put together a quick run through a couple of dynamic recruiting classes, excellent coaching, and just a little bit of luck.

When did Dabo's luck suddenly run out? Well, what nearly always happens is that your assistants become head coaching prospects and you have to replace them. One can argue that losing Tom Hermann was what kept Ohio State from the 2015 playoffs. The assistants in Red Stick bolted out of town like the assassins at the St Orgeron's Day Massacre. What Saban has done with all the changes is something out of another world.

But Georgia is close.

Close enough a title this year would do it.

 

[CoolBreeze]

This excuse is absolutely ludicrous.

Name one team they wouldn't have beaten in the West the last two years?

In 2021, the three best teams in the West were Alabama, Ole Miss, and Arkansas. They went 1-1 against us and absolutely jackhammered Arkansas (37-0). In 2022, the played LSU and smashed them, and they played Miss St on the road. Again - they played 2 of the 3 best teams in the SEC plus Auburn, who hired Harsin.

What's the claim? "Well, if they woulda played us in the SECCG, they'd have lost." Two points in response: 1) it's not UGA's fault we messed the bed; 2) even if they had lost, they'd have been in the playoffs.

Ludicrous all you want Selma but you know, I know, Georgia knows and everyone else in the country knows that the Eastern Division would have been way more appropriate competing in the ACC for the past 20 years that the SEC. That is not to say UGA does not have a good team, they do. But the only team that has an easier path to the National Championship game over the past few years is Clemson but just barely. Maybe I'm wrong but I doubt it.

 

[GrayTide]

I wonder if we beat Texas if Ewers doesn't get hurt. He was shredding our secondary. I get tired of some fans blaming our losses on injuries and/or officiating. Sometimes you lose.

 

[CajunCrimson]

Again, this is the same kind of excuse as, "Well, those Southern teams are afraid to play up north in December."

Who - in the last two years- would UGA not have beaten in the West????

It’s the cumulative effect. You knew that’s what I was referring to. 7 of the top 9 teams in the conference are in the West.

Those two points have zero in common

 

[CajunCrimson]

Now having dispensed with the pile of ridiculous excuses.....

They're (thisclose). In fact, if we had played them AND LOST last year, I'd be willing to say "yes." But here's the thing and the "but Clemson" folks have it correctly. Less than five years ago, Dabo Swinney was the Savior of college football. He was going to turn us into pork sausage, eat us, and push us through his bowels and change the face of college football forever. Look now and his program is only slightly better than Hiroshima when the mushroom cloud was still rising. Almost ANY program can put together a quick run through a couple of dynamic recruiting classes, excellent coaching, and just a little bit of luck.

When did Dabo's luck suddenly run out? Well, what nearly always happens is that your assistants become head coaching prospects and you have to replace them. One can argue that losing Tom Hermann was what kept Ohio State from the 2015 playoffs. The assistants in Red Stick bolted out of town like the assassins at the St Orgeron's Day Massacre. What Saban has done with all the changes is something out of another world.

But Georgia is close.

Close enough a title this year would do it.

Your logic may or may not have merit. But your delivery is unappreciated, and should be reconsidered.

 

[CajunCrimson]

I'm still trying to figure out what happened in 2022. I thought we definitely took two steps backward. I've watched Bama football for over 50 years and last season was the biggest enigma that I have ever seen. Maybe someone will write a book about it one day--there is definitely a story to be told there.

Yet two plays from being undefeated. How crazy is that? Or one play from meeting UGA in the SECCG

 

[Isaiah 63:1]

Now having dispensed with the pile of ridiculous excuses.....

They're (thisclose). In fact, if we had played them AND LOST last year, I'd be willing to say "yes." But here's the thing and the "but Clemson" folks have it correctly. Less than five years ago, Dabo Swinney was the Savior of college football. He was going to turn us into pork sausage, eat us, and push us through his bowels and change the face of college football forever. Look now and his program is only slightly better than Hiroshima when the mushroom cloud was still rising. Almost ANY program can put together a quick run through a couple of dynamic recruiting classes, excellent coaching, and just a little bit of luck.

When did Dabo's luck suddenly run out? Well, what nearly always happens is that your assistants become head coaching prospects and you have to replace them. One can argue that losing Tom Hermann was what kept Ohio State from the 2015 playoffs. The assistants in Red Stick bolted out of town like the assassins at the St Orgeron's Day Massacre. What Saban has done with all the changes is something out of another world.

But Georgia is close.

Close enough a title this year would do it.

The only part I don’t agree with (in all your entries today) is the last sentence above. Until they’ve done it longer, under multiple coordinators, they won’t have taken our place even if we’ve left it unoccupied. They’re already at the top, but Alabama since 2008 hasn’t just been at the top, as your emphasized sentence above says. But as I’ve said previously, the answer to the question this thread poses really depends on your definition of “place”…

 

[STONECOLDSABAN]

This is nonsense.

Using this line of reasoning, Georgia could say, "We gave Alabama that 2017 title with mistakes, and we lost the 2018 SECCG with mistakes" yadda yadda. I'm also not quite sure what you mean by what they looked like under Kirby "before 2021." From 2017-2021, they were 44-9, with an SEC title, a national title, and last-minute losses in an SEC and national title game (overtime in that one). Georgia was two plays from a record of 46-7 with TWO national titles and two SEC titles.

And anyone who says "you're talking about two plays" better start looking up the definition of "irony."

I wasn’t talking about the game I was talking about us as a program and we made bad decisions AS A PROGRAM!!!!! Bad coaching hires….recruiting misses… about where we are in the pecking order. of things…

I meant they aren’t any different than the team we beat a couple of years ago so we shouldn’t be crapping our pants over them. That’s all I was saying…

I don’t believe in a team getting dethroned based off of one game. I don’t believe blaming injuries…I don’t care how many receivers we lost. we lost that game because of mistakes we made hiring bad coaches and crappy recruiting and UGA simply being better than us on that day period. When I say we dethroned ourselves I mean we hired idiots like Pete and Bob to infect our program and mistakes on the recruiting. While Georgia kept a stable program. And Alabama can get itself back up if we correct course. So does anyone else on here Want to tie me to the “‘muh injuries” reason cause I can write this in crayon???? What I get defensive about is when people say stupid things like “Georgias In control now, it’s their world we are just living in it” cause it’s really cringe to listen to.

 

[PA Tide Fan]

No, there really isn't.

Tua got hurt in the 2018 SECCG against UGA, too, and we won the game.



The problem with the Colt McCoy argument is that their DEFENSE let both Ingram and Richardson rush for over 100 yards and Malcolm Williams dropped a ball right in his hands. McCoy playing doesn't change that.

Saban won an SECCG in 2001 with his starting QB injured.
He did it again in 2018 when Tua got hurt.

Every team has injuries. Trey Sermon got hurt for Ohio St on the first drive in 2020. Bo Scarborough's injury in 2016 we COULD say cost us - but what really cost us was Jalen not developing as a passer or (take your pick) running through OCs like crap through a goose.

I think you may be underestimating the impact of injuries a bit too much. True, we won some games where we had QB injuries but I'd say that only proved we were far superior to our opponents in those games while in games where talent was closer it could make a difference. While the injured players you mentioned could have made a difference in those games I'd say in Georgia's two championships injuries DID make a difference. When we beat them by 17 points with Metchie and Williams in the SECCG but lose in the NC without them that's strong evidence to me. Last season when Ohio State put 38 points on the scoreboard over 3 quarters with Marvin Harrison Jr. in there but only score 3 points in the final quarter after he leaves that's also strong evidence to me. Georgia basically backed into two championships. Certainly it's not Georgia's fault they won that way but that's the way it turned out.

 

[colbysullivan]

Say what you will, but the bottom line is both of UGA’s titles are somewhat…lackluster IMO. Bama in the 2021 title game was a shell of itself due to injuries, and UGA didn’t even have to play Bama last year. You have to give them credit for capitalizing on their opportunities, but having to play a glorified high school team from Ft Worth in the title game is a joke, plain and simple.

2019 LSU and 2020 Bama would have absolutely SMOKED UGA’s last 2 teams.

 

[81usaf92]

I wonder if we beat Texas if Ewers doesn't get hurt. He was shredding our secondary. I get tired of some fans blaming our losses on injuries and/or officiating. Sometimes you lose.

yeah but Alabama fans have that 2011 mentality in “we only beat ourselves and no one else can”.

I was there in Indy and had a far better view than 90% on here. Yes Jamo going down was big but calling play after play behind the line was the biggest factor of the game. You could see the Georgia DBs breaking fast to our guys in the backfield yet BoB never adjusted. This was happening well before Jamo went down.

Tennessee was a horrendously called game but that doesn’t change how we went totally brain dead on Special teams and let one guy burn us all day on defense.

 

[81usaf92]

Yet two plays from being undefeated. How crazy is that? Or one play from meeting UGA in the SECCG

and we are 3 plays from being 7-5 as well.

 

[STONECOLDSABAN]

and we are 3 plays from being 7-5 as well.

Honestly 2021 and 2022 may go down as one of the more confusing times in Alabama football.

 

[Ledsteplin]

just a guess, but i think bryce's injury and the associated lack of practice time had a massive effect on the team's confidence

That and an OL that wasn't getting the job done.